The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today
announced the award of more than $12 million in grants to support
research and development of potentially high-impact, innovative
technologies to advance health care.

The new grants will fund four investigators in developing groundbreaking
technologies: disposable microchips for the diagnosis of metastatic
lung cancer, a bio-artificial kidney to eliminate dialysis procedures,
insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes, and nanoparticles that
selectively leave the blood and bind to cancer cells to assist
in removal of brain tumors.

"This innovative program from the NIBIB promises to harness the
power of technological discovery and team science to translate
new knowledge into practical healthcare benefits for our nation," said
Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., NIH director.

The overall goal of the NIBIB Quantum Grants program is to make
a profound (quantum level) advance in health care by funding research
on targeted projects that will develop new technologies and modalities
for the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease.

"We are excited to be awarding these Quantum Grants to four excellent
researchers and their interdisciplinary teams," said NIBIB director
Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D. "We look forward to watching
the extraordinary results that will be achieved as these studies
progress. All four of these projects have the potential to significantly
improve the current practice of medicine."

Diabetes impacts the individuals afflicted and society as a whole
due to the significant complications associated with using existing
insulin treatment strategies. The aim of this project is to develop
a new source of insulin secreting cells as a replacement strategy
for treating diabetes. Transplantation of pancreatic islets to
restore insulin production is promising; however, the donor pancreata
are in short supply and do not meet medical needs. The development
of these tissue engineered islets will provide a new source of
insulin-producing cells and help realize the full potential of
cell therapy for diabetes.

Brain cancer is one of the most lethal forms of cancer, and is
diagnosed in over 43,000 new patients each year. The goal of this
project is to improve surgical resection and treatment options
for brain cancer patients. Dr. Kopelman and his team will develop
nanoparticles that selectively leave the blood and bind to cancer
cells. These nanoparticles will aid in the visualization of tumors
to allow for maximal surgical resection of tumor mass and also
facilitate nonsurgical destruction of the residual cancer cells
that are remote or extend from the tumor mass. This may achieve
significant improvement in treatment of brain tumors.

End stage renal disease is a significant global health problem.
Donor kidneys for transplantation are in short supply, with dialysis
and filtration as the only alternative treatment. This investigator
and his team will develop a, miniaturized, implantable, and self-regulating
bio-artificial kidney that takes the dialysis machinery and integrates
it into a miniaturized implantable device. The successful development
of this bio-artificial kidney would provide an alternative to the
majority of the dialysis procedures performed annually in the U.S.

The goal of this project is to develop a point-of-care microchip
device that can determine the type, severity, and aggressiveness
of a wide range of cancers by detecting tumor cells that are circulating
in the blood stream. Dr. Toner and his team will develop a new
disposable microchip technology capable of separating specific
circulating tumor cells from whole human blood at concentrations
as low as one in a billion. Detecting the presence of these tumor
cells at such low concentrations enables earlier intervention in
the treatment of metastatic lung cancer, which remains the leading
cause of cancer death in the U.S. This point of care test can potentially
transform patient care through early molecular diagnosis of lung
cancer and identification of new biomarkers with which to track
disease progression.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to improving
human health through the integration of the physical and biological
sciences. The research agenda of the NIBIB will dramatically advance
the Nation's health by improving the detection, management, understanding,
and ultimately, the prevention of disease. Additional information
and publications are available at www.nibib.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.